The Middlesboro girls soccer team staged a defensive clinic Monday night at the James A. Cawood field en route to a 5-0 district victory over host Harlan County.
Senior Keevi Betts and freshman Alysia White each scored two goals for Middlesboro, and first-year junior goalkeeper Trinity Partin recorded her seventh shutout of the season.
After managing just six shots during the first half, the Lady Yellow Jackets scored on four of their 18 second-half attempts to improve to 8-2 on the season.
“We did not play our style of soccer in the first half,” Middlesboro coach Quinton Mason said. “We came up here. We’re not used to playing on grass and it was a little rough.
“In the last 10 minutes, we really started coming into our own groove, and they started playing really well.”
Defensively, the Lady Yellow Jackets were led by sophomore Morgan Martin, and the corps of defenders made the going tough on a rain-soaked field for Harlan County freshman phenom, Adriana Rowe.
“Morgan Martin keeps us in a lot of games because she’s patient and just plays really, really well,” Mason said. “Nothing against my keeper or the rest of the defense. They all play really well together.”
Harlan County’s best chance to score came during the first minute of the match when Rowe eluded two Middlesboro defenders and challenged Partin on a shot from close range.
The Lady Yellow Jackets scored the first goal of the game during the 36th minute on White’s shot just to the right of HC junior goalkeeper Willow Peace. On the play, White took a pass from Betts and crossed the ball into the lower right corner of the net.
Middlesboro made it 2-0 during the 50th minute on Betts’ first goal of the match. Betts played the ball after it deflected off a Lady Bears defender and pushed it past Peace.
White scored again during the 55th minute, following the initial save by Peace, followed by Betts’ second goal of the match during the 60th minute.
Sophomore Abby Jackson’s goal during the 74th minute capped the scoring.
Despite a second loss this season to Middlesboro, Lady Bears coach Hannah Pittman praised her team’s gritty first-half effort and admitted that her injury-plagued squad ran out of gas during the final 40 minutes.
“I’m happy because we played our best first half of the season, but then we got winded,” Pittman said. “We don’t really have defensive subs right now; we’ve got two of our primary defensive players out with injury.
“Hopefully, by the next time we see (Middlesboro), in the (district championship) we have those two back and it’s a different story in the second half.”
Rowe, who entered the game ranked among the state’s top 20 goal-scorers, had two reasonable scoring chances during the second half, but was whistled for offsides on multiple occasions.
“There was a lot of fear there from the last time we played them, because it was a very rough game, especially on her,” Pittman added.
“It’s also something that we’re going to have to work on with our midfield and on defense. We have to send it quicker, because (Rowe’s) making that run before they send it, and she ends up offsides.”
Peace was credited with 19 saves for the Lady Bears, while Partin turned away five HC shots.
After scoring 40 goals last season for Middlesboro, junior Kolbi Mason controlled the midfield Monday and helped set up four of the Lady Yellow Jackets’ four goals.
“She makes really good passes and that’s why I had to pull her back, because they just crowd her so much,” coach Mason said about his daughter. “If we have her back, she can make the pass and she can put the ball where it needs to be.”
Next up for Harlan County (5-8) is a homecoming game at 6 p.m. Saturday against Knott Central, a team HC defeated earlier this month.
Middlesboro returns to action at home Tuesday against Claiborne County, Tenn.
